Is there such a thing as a 'light' ale? As far as I understand, all the commercially available light beers are lagers. Of all people, my mother asked me this the other day and I didn't have an answer for her.
I don't know if any of the major breweries produce a light ale, but many microbreweries product something that they'll call a light ale or a golden ale with a light flavor so that non craft beer drinkers will have something they can drink when visiting a brewpub for a meal or are trying to get started drinking craft beers.
Many ales have been labeled "light" over the years in the US, but if you mean the type of low calorie light beer (Miller Lite, Bud Light, Coors Light, etc.) that is a "light" version of a brewer's flagship beer, the most notable one was Genesee's Cream Light. During the "cream ale" fad of the 1970's, both Falstaff's Narragansett and Heileman's Blatz (among others, probably) marketed "Light Cream Ale" but they had no full-calorie sister brews, IIRC.
"Light," as in lo-calorie, or "light" as in light-bodied or light-colored? If it's body and color, try these: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/99 http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/98 If it's lo-cal, can't help.
Bitters and milds were the first thing that came to mind. I know you mentioned bitters and blondes (sounds like a strip club). There's many pale ales (both English and American, definitely more English though) that would fit the bill as well.
From MJ's Pocket Guide: "Light Ale: English term describing the bottled counterpart of a basic bitter. In Scotland, "Light" indicates the lowest gravity draught beer (usually dark in colour), neither term implies a low-calorie beer." BridgePort used to identify their Coho Pacific Ale as a Light Ale right on the label, but that probably hasn't been made in a long while. I can't remember seeing the term since then, but if it is just a bottled 4% bitter then there are probably many around that don't explicitly say so.
Hefe-weizen is relatively low in calories and they're ales. Not as low as "light beers" labeled as such, but they do tend to be a lot less than many styles that are popular here on BA.
The best bitters are usually found in local breweries/brewpubs. The best Ive found so far is Bull City Burger and Brewery Dr. Bartlett's Ordinary Bitter. I mean 21st Ammendment Bitter American was solid too. Sadly, i wish they were more popular. That way I had more choices and well made local hefes. Im stuck with Weihenstephaner, Ayinger, and Konig Ludwig, and Kellerweis.
Here in Louisiana, the light ale (for better or worse) is kind of the local specialty. These are all 5% or under: NOLA Blonde, NOLA Brown, NOLA Wheat, Abita Pale, Abita Purple Haze, Abita Pecan Harvest, Abita Satsuma Wit, Tin Roof Blonde, Tin Roof Amber, Tin Roof Watermelon Wheat, Parish Canebrake. NOLA Blonde by a mile here, by the way.
there are a lot of styles of ale that are light: google 'session ales' and you'll be off to a nice start. everything from english milds to kolsch to american wheats can be in sessionable range (defined as under 4% abv until people were like 'screw that' and upped it to 5). but if you're looking for something marketed as 'light,' jesskidden's right on with genny cream.
Light Ale is just a name. Every brewer made one , it was basically a bottled bitter.Also common were Luncheon Ales and Dinner Ales. What we call "Styles" these days mostly began simply as names given by the brewers.An example ; ESB was one particular beer introduced by Fuller's , not a style at all but simply a bitter at the stronger end of the spectrum. Actual styles include Pale Ale (ie brewed from pale malt) and Porter.
Porter was once brewed from porter malt (aka brown malt), but now it's brewed from pale malt, does that make it the same style as pale ale?
No, Porter is a beer not an ale in its heritage! But it's an interesting question.It's clearly a distinct style from Pale Ale though.Ingredients have a habit of being changed over time anyway. My point was IMO there are few actual styles but lots of variation within them.
